Albert Einstein in the opening of Apple’s Think Different film— Apple / TBWA\Chiat\Day; frame extracted from an archival film upload
Think Different
- Brand:
- Apple
- Agency:
- TBWA\Chiat\Day
Timeless principle
When a brand needs to recover its meaning, the people it chooses to honor can define the worldview it wants audiences to join.
The idea
Reintroduce Apple by placing its mark beside people whose imagination changed culture, making the company’s chosen heroes its clearest product statement.
Why it works
The campaign withholds the computer and lets cultural affiliation carry the sale. In print and outdoor, a stark black-and-white portrait, a tiny rainbow Apple and two words create a complete positioning system; the identity of each subject supplies a new proof of the same belief. The film turns those portraits into a collective manifesto, while the posters let individual figures become public emblems. Because the visual grammar barely changes, the series can expand across Muhammad Ali, Maria Callas, Jim Henson and others without weakening recognition. Apple makes its taste in people stand in for its taste in products.
Tags
- Classic Print
- Film
- Outdoor
- Portraiture
- Identity
Gallery
Apple — Think Different: Muhammad Ali Think Different outdoor billboard: Muhammad Ali Think Different outdoor billboard: Albert Einstein Think Different outdoor billboard: Mahatma Gandhi Think Different wall: Martha Graham Think Different identity slate Think Different wall: Pablo Picasso
